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- All HBS Web
(1,904)
- People (2)
- News (268)
- Research (1,148)
- Events (23)
- Multimedia (9)
- Faculty Publications (722)
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- August 2019 (Revised March 2023)
- Case
Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)
In 2016, senior management at Moz, a venture capital–backed startup providing software tools for digital marketing professionals, must decide how to address a looming cash flow crisis precipitated by failed efforts to broaden its product line. Seattle-based Moz had... View Details
Keywords: Startups; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; Diversification; Growth Management; Technology Industry
Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)." Harvard Business School Case 820-002, August 2019. (Revised March 2023.)
- April 1980 (Revised September 1985)
- Background Note
The Disposable Diaper Industry in 1974
Describes the rapidly growing disposable diaper industry in 1974, a period in which Procter and Gamble's industry leadership faced strong challenges from Kimberly Clark, Johnson and Johnson, and Union Carbide. The latter two firms were in the process of entry into the... View Details
Porter, Michael E. "The Disposable Diaper Industry in 1974." Harvard Business School Background Note 380-175, April 1980. (Revised September 1985.)
- Research Summary
Relative Thinking and Consumer Choice
Fixed differences appear smaller when compared to large differences. Professor Schwartzstein has proposed a model of relative thinking, in which a person weighs a given change by less when he compares it to a larger range. Relative thinking implies that a person is... View Details
- October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
Fantuan
By: Feng Zhu and David Lane
In 2023, CEO Randy Wu was considering the optimal growth strategy for Fantuan, a restaurant food delivery platform that had expanded from its 2014 founding in Vancouver, Canada to serve the Chinese demand for Asian cuisine in urban markets across Australia, Canada, the... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Diasporas; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Growth Management; Business Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Canada; United Kingdom; Australia
Zhu, Feng, and David Lane. "Fantuan." Harvard Business School Case 624-023, October 2023. (Revised March 2024.)
- 2014
- Working Paper
The Rise and Fall of Demand for Securitizations
By: Sergey Chernenko, Samuel G. Hanson and Adi Sunderam
Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and private-label mortgage-backed securities (MBS) backed by nonprime loans played a central role in the recent financial crisis. Little is known, however, about the underlying forces that drove investor demand for these... View Details
Chernenko, Sergey, Samuel G. Hanson, and Adi Sunderam. "The Rise and Fall of Demand for Securitizations." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 20777, December 2014.
- February 2010
- Case
Amyris Biotechnologies: Commercializing Biofuel
By: Gary P. Pisano and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
In 2009, Amyris Biotechnologies was building a plant in Brazil that used synthetic biology to convert sugarcane into both renewable fuels and renewable chemicals. The Amyris' marketing team was investigating the commercial interest for both types of products, while the... View Details
Keywords: Renewable Energy; Chemicals; Risk Management; Product Marketing; Product Development; Production; Environmental Sustainability; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry; Brazil
Pisano, Gary P., and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld. "Amyris Biotechnologies: Commercializing Biofuel." Harvard Business School Case 610-031, February 2010.
- 2008
- Working Paper
How Can Decision Making Be Improved?
By: Katherine L. Milkman, Dolly Chugh and Max H. Bazerman
The optimal moment to address the question of how to improve human decision making has arrived. Thanks to fifty years of research by judgment and decision making scholars, psychologists have developed a detailed picture of the ways in which human judgment is bounded.... View Details
Milkman, Katherine L., Dolly Chugh, and Max H. Bazerman. "How Can Decision Making Be Improved?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-102, June 2008. (Revised July 2008.)
- July 2021 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
Pershing Square's Pandemic Trade (A)
By: Emil N. Siriwardane, Luis M. Viceira, Dean Xu and Lucas Baker
This case explores the decision that Bill Ackman, CEO and founder of the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital, was considering in late February 2020 about hedging the exposure of the fund’s portfolio from the potential financial fallout ensuing from an extreme event like... View Details
Keywords: Health Pandemics; Financial Liquidity; Cost Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Risk Management
Siriwardane, Emil N., Luis M. Viceira, Dean Xu, and Lucas Baker. "Pershing Square's Pandemic Trade (A)." Harvard Business School Case 222-007, July 2021. (Revised December 2021.)
- July 2008 (Revised May 2009)
- Case
The Springfield Nor'easters: Maximizing Revenues in the Minor Leagues
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Christopher H. Lovelock and Laura Winig
The marketing director of a new minor-league baseball team must design, conduct, and then interpret survey research to determine optimal ticket pricing that will yield large attendance figures and contribute to the owner's goal of breaking even in the first year of... View Details
Keywords: Market Research; Quantitative Analysis; Consumer Marketing; Pricing Strategy; Price; Marketing Strategy; Mathematical Methods; Product Launch; Sports; Sports Industry; Massachusetts
Cespedes, Frank V., Christopher H. Lovelock, and Laura Winig. "The Springfield Nor'easters: Maximizing Revenues in the Minor Leagues." Harvard Business School Brief Case 082-510, July 2008. (Revised May 2009.)
- Article
Is Life Nasty, Brutish, and Short? Philosophies of Life and Well-Being
By: Michael I. Norton, Lalin Anik, Lara B. Aknin and Elizabeth W. Dunn
Three studies examine the extent to which laypeople endorse Thomas Hobbes' (1651) view of life as "nasty, brutish, and short" and explore the relationships between this philosophy and well-being. We asked participants to answer two binary choice questions: Is life... View Details
Norton, Michael I., Lalin Anik, Lara B. Aknin, and Elizabeth W. Dunn. "Is Life Nasty, Brutish, and Short? Philosophies of Life and Well-Being." Social Psychological & Personality Science 2, no. 6 (November 2011): 570–575.
- April 2012
- Article
How Many Direct Reports?
By: Gary L. Neilson and Julie Wulf
If senior executives are feeling ever more pressed for time, why would they add more to their plates? It might sound counterintuitive, but research by Booz & Company's Gary L. Neilson and me shows that over the past 20 years the CEO's average span of control, measured... View Details
Keywords: Leadership; Governance Controls; Managerial Roles; Adaptation; Personal Development and Career; Cooperation; Management Teams
Neilson, Gary L., and Julie Wulf. "How Many Direct Reports?" Harvard Business Review 90, no. 4 (April 2012).
- December 2023
- Article
When Should the Off-Grid Sun Shine at Night? Optimum Renewable Generation and Energy Storage Investments
By: Christian Kaps, Simone Marinesi and Serguei Netessine
Globally, 1.5 billion people live off the grid, their only access to electricity often limited to operationally-expensive fossil fuel generators. Solar power has risen as a sustainable and less costly option, but its generation is variable during the day and... View Details
Kaps, Christian, Simone Marinesi, and Serguei Netessine. "When Should the Off-Grid Sun Shine at Night? Optimum Renewable Generation and Energy Storage Investments." Management Science 69, no. 12 (December 2023): 7633–7650.
- October 2023 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Governance and Growth at GenUnity
By: Brian Trelstad, Paul Healy and Annelena Lobb
Jerren Chang, CEO and co-founder of GenUnity, had to choose a strategy to scale his civic engagement-focused nonprofit. Based in Boston, Chang could grow the organization there or begin to expand to other cities. He also had to select candidates for a board of... View Details
Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Expansion; Governing and Advisory Boards; Boston
Trelstad, Brian, Paul Healy, and Annelena Lobb. "Governance and Growth at GenUnity." Harvard Business School Case 324-015, October 2023. (Revised May 2024.)
- Article
Four Ways to Build a Productive Sales Culture
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Steven Maughan
This article distinguishes sales efficiency (SE) initiatives (e.g., CRM, training, and KPI dashboards) from sales optimization (SO) decisions (e.g., aligning sales tasks with business strategy, customer selection, and deployment of sales resources across... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised July 2007)
- Case
Ottawa Devices, Inc. (A)
By: Henry B. Reiling and Harry Clegg Midgley IV
A master plan accommodating two retiring brothers, the brother who will remain as president, third-generation family members, employees, philanthropic interests, and company imperatives must be developed by second-generation brothers who are controlling shareholders... View Details
Keywords: Family Business; Change Management; Transition; Management Succession; Management Teams; Retirement; Conflict of Interests
Reiling, Henry B., and Harry Clegg Midgley IV. "Ottawa Devices, Inc. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 204-101, November 2003. (Revised July 2007.)
- Research Summary
The Benefits of Selective Disclosure: Evidence from Private Firms
This paper explores an unexplored benefit of being privately-held: Non-SEC-filing private firms’ ability to disclose confidential information to selected investors minimizes the scope for information asymmetry between the firms and their investors. This decreases... View Details
- Research Summary
Overview
Professor Begenau’s research agenda is directed at better understanding how financial markets work and how they affect the real economy. She uses quantitative analysis to build both prescriptive and descriptive models concerning financial risk in banking, and she also... View Details
- March 2022 (Revised March 2023)
- Case
Commercial Space Stations, Chickens and Eggs, and Demand for Activity in Low-Earth Orbit
By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Brendan L. Rosseau
With the International Space Station set to retire in January 2031, NASA has made clear its desire to transition to commercially-led space stations in low-earth orbit (LEO). But the history of commercial station attempts has been fraught, characterized by a lack of... View Details
- Article
Faithful and Customizable Explanations of Black Box Models
By: Himabindu Lakkaraju, Ece Kamar, Rich Caruana and Jure Leskovec
As predictive models increasingly assist human experts (e.g., doctors) in day-to-day decision making, it is crucial for experts to be able to explore and understand how such models behave in different feature subspaces in order to know if and when to trust them. To... View Details
Lakkaraju, Himabindu, Ece Kamar, Rich Caruana, and Jure Leskovec. "Faithful and Customizable Explanations of Black Box Models." Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society (2019).
- Article
Analyzing Scrip Systems
By: Kris Johnson, David Simchi-Levi and Peng Sun
Scrip systems provide a nonmonetary trade economy for exchange of resources. We model a scrip system as a stochastic game and study system design issues on selection rules to match potential trade partners over time. We show the optimality of one particular rule in... View Details
Keywords: ＂Repeated Games＂; Stochastic Trust Game; Dynamic Program; P2P Lending; Scrip Systems; Artificial Currency; Non-monetary Trade Economies; Marketplace Matching; Currency; Operations; Game Theory
Johnson, Kris, David Simchi-Levi, and Peng Sun. "Analyzing Scrip Systems." Operations Research 62, no. 3 (May–June 2014): 524–534.